| A literal blow to investors in Indonesia | By Donald Greenlees International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2005
| JAKARTA Theo Toemion, the chairman of Indonesia's powerful Investment Coordinating Board, is, like most parents, passionate about his son's sporting activities. Just how passionate became evident one recent Sunday when he went on a violent rampage, assaulting a 14-year-old referee and several parents of other children in a dispute over a junior school basketball match. The assault on the grounds of the Jakarta International School left an American oil company executive, the parent of one child in the game, with a broken nose. The executive has since been forced to leave Indonesia with his family. Another oil company employee was hit in the back of the head, requiring several stitches. Almost two weeks later, the wounds from the assault are starting to heal. But the incident has rocked the tight-knit expatriate school community here and deeply embarrassed the Indonesian government as it strives to attract foreign investment. "A lot of people were upset and a lot of people are still upset," said one foreign witness, who requested anonymity. The children playing basketball "were aged between six and nine," this person said. "They were young kids." Toemion wields enormous influence over foreign companies investing in Indonesia. The stout, former foreign exchange dealer is essentially the gatekeeper for foreign investors. With so much hinging on the country gaining more investment to keep its consumer-led economic recovery alive, there is a great deal riding on his performance. On April 17, when Toemion shouted, overturned furniture and punched other parents at the second-grade basketball game between the Mavericks and the Lakers, he was dealing Indonesia's image among investors another unfortunate blow. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was "furious" and "visibly disturbed" after being told of the incident, said close advisors, who declined to be named. Witnesses to the incident at the basketball court said Toemion became enraged when his 7-year-old son Daniel, playing for the Lakers, was accused of a series of fouls. Accounts of witnesses and others familiar with the incident, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, differ somewhat over the exact sequence of events, but it appears Toemion became agitated when he felt his son was being singled out unfairly by the referee and officials of the game. By Toemion's own written account, he took particular issue with complaints over Daniel's conduct from the game's coordinator, Michelle Mabee, the wife of an executive with the American energy company ConocoPhillips. What started as an increasingly angry disagreement over whether Daniel should remain in the game and whether he was guilty of the alleged fouls quickly deteriorated into violence. Toemion says Daniel, who had been "jumping and playing and enjoying the game very much," had been treated "unjustly" by Mabee. "I concluded immediately that I was dealing with someone displaying a very racist behavior," Toemion wrote. Witnesses said Toemion lost his temper and slammed his fist repeatedly onto the officials' desk. The referee, a 14-year-old Australian boy, approached Toemion and asked him to leave the premises. Toemion grabbed the boy by the neck, causing some bruising. Several parents also intervened and were struck by Toemion, the witnesses said. According to one witness, Toemion shouted threats that he could have the non-Indonesian parents thrown out of the country. Among those trying to restrain Toemion were executives from U.S. companies like ExxonMobil, Nike, Unocal and ConocoPhillips. "The implication was that he could revoke anyone's work permit if he wanted to," the witness said. Another person familiar with the incident said Toemion had advised those present not to bother calling the police, because he "owned" the local police. The ConocoPhillips executive, David Mabee, coach of the Mavericks, received a call from three people the following day telling him he had to meet Toemion, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mabee, who had his nose broken in the melee, was told there would be serious consequences if he refused the meeting. Following this call, ConocoPhillips decided that Mabee, his wife and three children should immediately leave the country for Singapore. A source in ConocoPhillips confirmed that Mabee and his family had been taken out of the country "due to concerns for their physical safety after he had received threats." Although those injured were reluctant to report the assaults to the police, the U.S. Embassy was informed of Toemion's violent eruption. An embassy official said the incident had been raised at high levels in the Indonesian government and the police force. The Indonesian police are making inquiries. A presidential spokesman, Dino Pati Djalal, said that Yudhoyono had asked a minister to investigate the assault. "The president firmly believes that government officials should uphold a high standard of public behavior," Djalal said. "He does not tolerate appalling or disrespectful behavior by public officials." On Sunday, Toemion sent a three-page letter of "sincere apology" and explanation to the headmaster of the Jakarta International School and "members of the community." In the letter, seen by the International Herald Tribune, he acknowledged the assaults, but also repeatedly justified his actions as the result of provocation. "My sense of nationalism and Indonesian pride began to dominate and I was prepared to defend myself against all the foreigners who were accosting me," he said in the letter. Government officials confirmed that Toemion, who was appointed by Megawati Sukarnoputri when she was president, was due to be soon replaced by a close ally of Yudhoyono. The decision to replace him was made before the incident on April 17.
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